Photos taken by Mike Blow at digitalartandtechnology.co.uk – Facebook
This time of year marks the end of lectures for my university course, and with it all final projects and deadlines. For me, that included the chance to be involved in the second-year end-of-year exhibition that is held annually, in which every second-year student submits a piece of work for the gallery. This year saw a lot of great pieces.
Now that my application meets my original scope, I am happy to call it finished. It has a lot of functionality for such a small application that I feel really shows what just small pieces of augmented reality are capable of.
However, even though it reaches my scope for the project, that’s not to say that it couldn’t be improved upon.
Unfortunately I was unable to do exactly what I had wanted in terms of location-specific information, but that could be seen as a blessing in disguise. Even though my project idea was to create an interactive map with relevant, real-time information about Plymouth, because of the lack of location-specific information the application should in theory work literally anywhere in the world with an internet connection.
This means that the application is actually a lot more accessible to a much larger audience. This means that much larger data sets could potentially be used. For example, in my original project plan I wanted to display small amounts of information about local train times, but with the app not being limited to location, it could be possible in the future to find the user’s nearest train station, and use national or even international train time data that can be accessed from anywhere in the country and still display the most location-relevant information to the user. This is something that I feel could be very possible (in the UK at least) once the full set of developer tools by National Rail become functional.
Since my last post I’ve done a lot of work on my App, but unfortunately a lot of this work isn’t exactly what I had originally planned.
My original idea, as I outlined before, was to give tourists and visitors to the city a way to navigate quickly and easily without the need of a large paper map. This was going to include use of weather data feeds, train time information, and the overlaying of pinpoints for important landmarks and places throughout the city.
However, this isn’t what I’ve built. What I HAVE built on the other hand is still an app that provides relevant information to people navigating the city.
Firstly, the map is still the central part of the application. When the user scans the image, the application uses their device’s GPS locator to pull in a longitude and latitude value and pass that into the Google Maps API and grab a static image which is then used as a texture on a plane in Unity using WWW utility. This is so that the user can view the map in a way which puts them right in the centre, allowing for easy navigation of the environment. (more…)
So finally after lots of back-and forth with ideas I have decided on something to build!
As I mentioned in my previous post I am exploring the world of Urban API to create an app that augments virtual information on top of the real world. My project idea is essentially an augmented reality application designed to help tourists navigate the city and plan their journey.
The scope of my project is to create an application in Unity that grabs the user’s current geolocation using the location services in Unity and applies that to both the Static Google Maps API, and also the Open Weather Map API. Once this is all complete, the app will display the map and all information whenever someone scans the target image that I created (left) with their device camera from inside the app.
The purpose of the geolocation is so that I can use the user’s own location as the centre of the map no matter where they are, making it easy to make “You are here” advice. Additionally, this functionality allows for the use of the app anywhere in the world with a 3G connection, albeit with some minor tweaking to the higher-up functionality explained later.
Secondly, (more…)
As part of our research topics for our Reflexive Design module, our group looked at Psychogeography as a context to art.
For those who don’t know (as I didn’t at the time) Psychogeography is a way to approach geography and art that emphasises the emotions and feelings one gets when navigating different environments. To you and me, that means taking notice of how “that dodgy part of town” makes you feel uncomfortable, or how a park in the centre of the city relaxes you as you walk through it.
Different parts of town have very distinctive atmospheres and make you feel different emotions purely based on (more…)
The module itself looks at how people react and interact with their environment, specifically urban environments, and ways in which we, as digital designers, can use or manipulate these interactions through artistic and/or technological means.
Because of what the overall module is about, I’m trying to come up with a project idea that can either be used or interacted with by people as they navigate the city, or be a means in itself to change the environment in a way that would have an affect on the person/people it is aimed at.
Although I never managed to document a couple of my end-of-year projects, I have decided to upload an essay of mine that I wrote back in November/December on the subject of ‘Dead Media,’ specifically the Cineorama from the very early 20th century. I’m uploading it for archive purposes, but feel free to give the essay a scim through if you have the time (approx. 3000 words).
Could Cinéorama and Immersive Viewing Have Changed Our Experience of Cinema Today?
Now this project sounds like a lot of fun.
The brief, essentially, is to create an artwork or installation that combines the physical world with the virtual world through interactivity and creative design. This post will simply be a discussion of the ideas and concepts my group and I came up with, along with discussion of existing artworks that we will/have drawn inspiration from.
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